Don't Follow My Lead

Sometimes I forget why I travel.  You are on the road for so long that it becomes a job (a nice job), but a chore none the less. 

Then you meet someone and it reminds you why is important to remember who you are.  No matter where in the world you may be.   Thank you Pedro from Portugal, for being such a condescending douchebag to remind me.  And I don’t mean it in a nice way, for once I’m not being sarcastic.

But to know why I say that about someone, I guess I need to catch you up with my trip.   So it will take a while before everything makes sense.

So no better way to tell the story of the first couple of people I actually got to know in my trip.   So I’ll take you back to June 2015 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  At this point Bangkok is on my rearview and I have my eyes set on going to Laos.  So I decided to go to the northern part of Thailand.   If you decide to do this, the trail will more than likely will take you through Chiang Mai. 

Chiang Mai is a town that if you are young and looking for places to have fun, legal or illegal ways, there’s a place for you here.  There’s a nightly night market, and a Sunday night weekly market that overshadows the nightly one.   So I would recommend participating in the Sunday night one if you ever visit this town.

After a day or so in this town, I started to feel anxious, I wasn’t doing much.   Even in Bangkok, I was already feeling fidgety.  I looked online for things to do in this town that didn’t involve buying something.  And I found a trail to Wat Palat (Palat Temple).  Is a smaller temple than other well known temples, but it is a free hike there.   I was already dreading having to go by myself but when I went to my room to get ready for my newly found hike, I started talking to a girl from my room.  I mentioned the hike, and how I would need to rent a bike to get there first.   She seemed interested and ask if her and and her friend could join up on my mini adventure.   I said sure, and that’s how I met Cass and Emma.  Two friends that met in Australia (or New Zealand?), one from Canada, the other one from Scotland, doing their own traveling.

We rented bikes from our hostel for less than $2 and we set in our way.   While biking in Thailand (I’ll make a post about driving in Asia at a different time) is not inherently dangerous, still a new experience for me since they drive on the left side, contrary to what I grew up in Puerto Rico and the U.S.A.   We were also doing it in 31C (90 F) weather.  Add to that, the fumes from the cars and motorbikes and it makes for an interesting ride.  

My only pic of Emma and Cass, can't believe I didn't took one of us 3. Argh!!!

We had to stop a few times to gather ourselves, but like good warriors we kept going until we reach the entrance to the trail.  We biked around 12km (7.5 Miles) to reach the beginning of  the hike.  The humidity was rising, so while the hike itself is only 30 to 45 minutes, it was pretty exhausting in this weather.  

Along the way there’s this robes that the monks wrap the trees with to signify that they are holy and they shouldn’t be cut down.  It makes for a beautiful trail.  When you reach the temple you get a nice view of the city.  A river also runs through the temple, so each of us took some time to wash ourselves to mitigate some of the heat we were all feeling. 

Emma cooling off with towel

Once we reach the temple we walked around, and there was free bottled water for us to drink.  We took advantage of that, and sat down for a needed break.   A young monk apprentice talked to us, he told us he was from Laos, and studying in Thailand.   It was a sweet moment and another reminder on how good it feels to have interaction with the people you meet.  Specially when they are positive ones.

View from the top, my crappy picture, not crappy view

We hike back down, ate a late lunch and kept riding back to our hostel.   I would hang out one more time with Emma and Cass.  I haven’t talked to them in months, but like most of the people you meet in this travels, if I’m ever in a town/country nearby, I wouldn’t think twice in meeting them again.  After all we are, I believe, we are all one community of nomads.

The following day I manage to make a hot day even hotter.   But that’s a story for tomorrow.